Quantcast Irma at WDW Trip Report - The Good
 
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Blacksburg, VA
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    Default Irma at WDW Trip Report - The Good

    Rather than giving a blow-by-blow, day-by-day report, I just want to keep it short and readable. So, I am breaking it up into "The Good", "The Mediocre", and "The Ugly".

    We drove down on Friday/Saturday from Virginia, in spite of the forecast and impending threat of Hurricane Irma. More than a few people questioned our sanity or wisdom in doing so. But here was our thinking:

    1. We really needed a vacation, and my wife was supposed to be at a conference at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island (outside of Jacksonville) on Friday/Saturday, the 15th and 16th of September. We had annual passes, and enough DVC points to pay for a room at OKW from Sat - Thursday. So, my wife's work would pay for gas to and from Jacksonville, and two nights at the Ritz-Carlton. DVC points would cover the hotel at Disney, and annual passes get us into the park. So, our only outlay would be the hotel nights on the way down and back, and whatever food/souvenirs we buy. That's a pretty cheap vacation.

    2. The hurricane was either going to go up the middle of Florida, weakening considerably, or go up one of the coasts, meaning that Orlando wouldn't get the full fury of the storm. Orlando is not prone to flooding, and is not on a river, nor are they any huge lakes with levy's (think Lake Ponchartrain). Plus, Disney is very well prepared for these kinds of events.

    So, we figured if we could get to Orlando, we wouldn't have any problems. We packed extra water and gas, just in case, and headed down.

    So, here's "The Good":

    1. Traffic! It was amazing (for obvious reasons). Fastest trip down, ever.

    2. No lines! The day before the hurricane, and the entire week after, the parks were relatively light. We rarely used our fast passes, and pretty much walked on to everything. The only time we had to wait more than 10 minutes for anything was the Navi River Journey. We waited about 25 minutes for that ride. We even walked up to Be Our Guest on Tuesday to see if we could get in for breakfast, and they let us right in. ADR's were easy to come by, as well.

    3. Disney's Hurricane service. They do a good job keeping spirits up at the resorts. They had boxed meals available for very reasonable prices ($6/person) that you could either eat there at the restaurant, or take back to your room. Our A/C was actually out on Saturday evening, and when I called to report it on Sunday morning I totally expected them to say that they didn't have anyone available (thinking that they would all be involved in hurricane prep) and that they would have to move us. But no, they sent engineering right over, and our A/C was restored within 30 minutes. It was awesome. They also had Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale over in the main buildings just wandering around, cheering people up. Go to YouTube and search for "Dale Does Algebra".
    2002 - 2022: 20+ visits (POR, BW, All Stars, VWL, CSR, BLT, BC, SSR, CB, Dolphin, OKW, Poly, offsite x8)
    DL - 1996, 2019
    Next up - January 2023 short trip! We just want to try that 50th Anniversary chocolate monstrosity at Mexico!

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  4. #2
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    873
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    Default

    We got in on Friday and stayed right down the Sassagoula river at SSR. We had experienced the same. We went to AK on Sat 9/9 and other than FOP everything was a walk on. We waited 40 mins to ride FOP. There was a nice cool breeze all day. We got to AK at 9am, rode everything we wanted to ride twice, and were out of the park by 12pm. I didn't really see crowds pick back up until The following Sat.

    Recent Trips:
    -OKW Aug 16 - Aug 23 / Royal Pacific Resort Universal Studios Aug 23 - Aug 26, 2013
    -Universal Studios Hard Rock Hotel Nov 14 - Nov 18, 2014
    -Saratoga Springs June 11 -18 2016

    Next Trip:
    -Port Orleans Riverside / Saratoga Springs Sept 8 - 17, 2017

  5. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    Cumming, GA
    Posts
    7,194
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    We enjoyed very quiet hotel stay and very empty parks on Wed-Friday with a big pick up on Saturday and even more on Sunday.
    Janet, aka JanetMegan


    Scrapbooking-There is a fine line between a mental illness and a hobby.

  6. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    40,874
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    Default

    Sounds like things worked out for you even though you traveled into a hurricane area!!
    Linda aka: Faline
    INTERCOT Staff: Vacation Planning,Trip Reports and Disney Camping
    [email protected]

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